The hammer total of £28.8m surpassed the sale’s high estimate of just over £21m for 41 lots – the lowest estimate for an equivalent Frieze week evening sale at Christie’s since 2009.
Only four lots were unsold with the auctioneers reporting registered bidders from 42 countries.
The night was led by Adrian Ghenie’s Nickelodeon which was knocked down at £6.2m. Making four times its estimate, it set a record for the artist at auction.
The four metre work, across two panels, had formed the centrepiece of Ghenie’s first UK solo show ‘Darkness for an Hour,’ in 2009.
Thomas Schütte’s Bronzefrau Nr. 13 (2003) bronze sold for £3.2m, against an estimate of £1.2-1.8m.
Five Records Set
Alongside Ghenie, records were also set for artists Imi Knoebel, Lucy McKenzie, Albert Oehlen, and Henry Taylor.
McKenzie’s Olga Korbut (1998) achieved a record at auction with a figure, at £260,000, well above its £30,000 estimate.
Henry Taylor’s Walking With Vito, sold for £110,000, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Bound Over To Keep The Faith took £170,000 and Jonas Wood’s Untitled (Downstairs) sold online for £180,000.
Imi Knoebel’s Grace Kelly realised, £300,000, three times its high estimate of £100,000 and Albert Oehlen’s Untitled (Statue of Liberty) reached £1.1m.
Christie’s Frieze week auctions total hit £81.2m, including buyer’s premium, after the sale earlier this week of Leslie Waddington's art collection.
Christie’s buyer’s premium is 25%/20%/12%.
